Best Caws Poems
A muddy toad 'ribbits,'
before leaping away -
to which I ponder,
if fairy tales were true,
who's 'Prince Charming.' would you be?
I smile,
in the quiet pond's reflection.
I can see fading green leaves falling,
as petals wilt from red to rust.
Soft gold sunbeams caress ripples,
like little Autumnal whispers from
nature's story of seasonal growth.
Bare branches reach for the sky,
full of empty nests and bird feeders.
Lost in thought...
I wonder who knows their secrets
and where does the queen bee hibernate...
Colours of time nonchalantly drift by,
as daylight fades into clementine hues.
I bid kaleidoscopic Koi goodbye,
who pop to the surface with their
'gaping' motions, hoping for food.
Chill winds weave into indigo air,
floating through misty meadows -
crow caws can be heard from a distance.
Sky slowly forms sparkling spotlights
in a clear black backdrop,
where the whole of the moon is visible.
The toad returns,
now clean and shimmering,
but still no crown upon his slimy head.
We both sit and gaze in silence,
as stars shape into different forms.
I connect them like dots,
so many patterns appear -
a dove, an angel, a face.
"Hey prince of toads can you see the unicorn?"
I ask, before a flash of light bursts like a firework,
but all I get in return is a "ribbit."
Maybe he agreed, maybe he laughed,
maybe it was a profound message -
but we shared an air of magic that night.
Categories:
caws, imagination,
Form:
Imagism
12 BARS
Twelve brazen bars, one frozen lock!
Confined, sublime, an ancient Roc
endures inside a barren cage,
her catacomb in sundown sage.
Of former days there is no trace
except displays of fallen grace –
Twelve dreams, abiding in her place,
are free, inhabit yawning space:
12 DREAMS
... of wings unfurled, and seething eyes
that dredge the depths of dawning skies,
divining clouds that cling below,
once ice, dissolved in morning’s glow;
... of clutching winds that carry free
above an anguished leaden sea,
dispersing dust of distant stars
midst chunks of chain in slave bazaars;
... of swooping to a silent shore
to perch beside the ocean’s roar,
at last to feel the sobbing breeze
message the leaves of rooted trees;
... of stalking strays and twilight tramps
within the fog of lighthouse lamps
that blink forlorn through caldron nights
in search of shades of errant Kites;
... of darkling vast deserted lands,
with shadowed stones on windswept sands,
where ghosts of Moorish maidens lost
disgorge faint groans in mourning frost;
... of blotting out the bloated moon
while feathers beat a banshee tune
and glimmers dance and prance aglow
upon a pearly pale plateau;
... of tasting cool torrential rains,
beyond the realm of binding reins,
and sipping freedom they exude
in quiet drops of solitude;
... of vanquishing a galley crew
aboard a ship of midnight dew,
beneath the pierce of seagulls' screams
that mock the strands of scarlet streams;
... of sating once an aching craw
with tearing beak, with ripping claw,
and echoed by an eldritch screech
while feasting on abandoned beach;
... of restive thoughts and weary wings
that drift on haze in smoky rings,
obscured within the opal shroud
of her resemblance in the crowd;
... of croaking caws in broken rhyme
in winter woe, in summer clime,
while building nests of sundown sage
beyond outside a barren cage.
Categories:
caws, freedom,
Form:
Rhyme
Atrocious affliction trembles voices of anguish
Brewing vile horror in death of tomorrow
Fearing for the newborn, women, and children
For yesterday’s massacre killed her husband
And the war-torn town screamed in agony
Wrapped in rags of shattered hopes,
Quivering hearts of disassembled valor
Incapable to assuage a hapless mother’s sorrow.
A lone crow caws atop heaps of rubble
Amplifying appetency for affinity of life,
Abjuring the blood thirsty hiding in disguise
To rob any remnants of civility and pride
From dismantled lives, walking shoeless,
Upon splintered glass littered in broken paths
When pigeons too left the desolate grounds.
Dreams once auspicious acquiesce to nightmares
Within awry silence of a burning dawn
As the allure of a new day inconsolably cries
When her only surviving child dies in her arms.
Divinity won’t absolve them of despicable sins,
That echo from playgrounds, shuttered bakery shops,
And the shrieks of families mingling in market
Where aroma of fresh bread once permeated air
And warmth of hot tea glasses greeted the day.
Wary footsteps march slowly to the other side:
It’s a bit safer there where a wedding is planned--
They don’t yet know, the young groom has died,
In a senseless war lost in poverty of thoughts.
Written: October 15, 2019
Submitted on 1/22/2023 to:
2022 Poetry Marathon Mile 25 Poetry Contest
Sponsor: Mark Toney
Placed 1st: Crazy A’s poetry contest
Sponsor: John Hamilton
Required words in the order included in this poem:
Atrocious, anguish, assuage, appetency, auspicious,
awry, allure, absolve
Placed 3rd: Strand choice poetry contest by Brian Strand
Categories:
caws, sorrow, violence, war,
Form:
Free verse
The heavy fog slowly lifts in places
Open patches of spring delight and resounds
The look-out crow caws, joyous news abounds
As rooster's crows lands in hollow spaces
The rising sun warms pale skin with graces
Awareness of a stillness settles around
Coo of the dove seems to calm and propounds
Thoughts surface above the calm, one races
Wildlife has no idea of what's ahead
They know not that storms could come and flood nests
Dens, wreck havoc, seal their fate, end life's joy
Humans bounce singing there's nothing to dread
Weak, untested in the fire, growths arrest
One incident will probably destroy
Finis'
Categories:
caws, anxiety,
Form:
Italian Sonnet
Dusk seeps lapis
The horizon looms in blood and coral
Crows emerge from peacock plumes
shrieking caws of darkness
wings flap their incessant onyx
Talon wounds of starlight
multiply and meld
into the coming day
the cover of night perforated
into salmon blooms and cornflowers
6/9/17
Categories:
caws, day, morning,
Form:
Imagism
As the reaper approached, I lie waiting for death,
whispering sad goodbyes while gasping for breath.
In a blurry haze of awareness, I drift towards sleep,
as visions of childhood days in my mind slowly creep.
I hear muffled sobs of loved ones as they weep.
There's a shadowy presence flying high overhead,
those scavengers of death, those that I most dread.
Their beady black eyes intent on watching my face,
circling around and around. It's a feast they chase,
ebon wing feathers falling as they hasten their pace.
I've need of sanity, so I close my eyes and pretend
I'm walking on a summer day with my best friend.
We're chasing tadpoles and sloshing in streams,
laughing as our skin turns bronze from sunbeams,
then I wake to realize that these were but dreams.
My memories are fading, and my lips feel numb.
To eternity's slumber, I will soon succumb.
I asked someone near me to chase them away...
She bent close and whispered, "What did you say?"
"The vultures circling me. Please keep them at bay."
Clusters of tenebrous clouds obscured the sunlight.
I heard raucous calls of the damned vultures in flight.
Oh, how I begged for their tormenting caws to cease,
for only then would I live my last moments in peace.
I heralded silence then welcomed life's release.
July 10, 2022
Pick-A-Title, Vol 31 Contest
Sponsored by Edward Ibeh
Theme: Vultures Circling
Categories:
caws, death, fear,
Form:
Rhyme
looking beyond discovery
within one universe
the dark side
faceless without moon
illusion shadows
taking you there
were a fire burns
heart burning dreams
nightmares of reality
a maze
of colours
begin fading
imprisoned eerily
invading black cells
opening hell's gate
eating the light
meaningless hurt
inflicted upon ache
the animal inside
begins to roar
deep churning emotions
mixing feelings
in a cauldron
slowly dying inside
to enter the land
of walking dead
love eats into pain
demonic torture
cold face
of truth
light within reason
slowly coming out
of the dark
clouds shedding tears
a crow caws
entering grey area
one bell strikes
tolling slowly
echoed in
the deep cave
a heart died
out of love
here lies
one broken heart
buried
Categories:
caws, dark, universe,
Form:
Free verse
I stood on a rocky shoal, regret lingering on my mind
Its fingers traced blood-filled lines along my bare arm
as if brittle veins in leaves, fallen from their tree
I was not blind to fear or its impending threat of harm
Whispers like the breath of death washed over me
Brief the moment seemed to be between light and dark
Shadows cast then fluttered in ebon depth of night
Twas foretold a tale of danger, imminent and stark
Pale moon risen, silvered orb stared at me from high
A cyclops beast waited to feast when time was right
Scarecrow in a fallow field, on his arms there perched
ravens who then danced on his head, raucously calling
Death rode on a pale horse and scavengers took flight
Fierce, my fright when from the sky, red eyes lurched
I stared in disbelief, knowing I'd no chance of stalling
Barren branches of leafless trees, maudlin limbs
frowned at me with forlorn face of a grim poet, Poe
My weak knees trembled; eyes filled to the brim
Frozen with terror, deprived of taking a last breath,
'twas not snow made me shiver; an ill wind did blow
Brisk the Winter chill when murder of crow took to air
after beady eyes sent a warning glance my way
An eclipse veiled the moon; and I, gripped with despair,
heard their caws, despite my flaws, denied Poe my soul
At water's edge I escaped death's claws on a rocky shoal
Categories:
caws, death, fear,
Form:
Rhyme
Gazing, at its own reflection is the Magpie.
A magic bird, a mystical creature, with a soul
and the power to see things, the power of scrying.
It sees a tomb in ancient Egypt. It sees death.
A soul locked within a glorious bronze mirror,
Cleopatra and her Maid in a bond unbroken.
Time passes in silence as deep as the unbroken
promise of endless wisdom, gifted by the Magpie.
whose caws the Maid hears, within the depths of the mirror,
calls to the Queen, her Cleopatra, to her soul.
Magpie speaks to She on the Eastern Barge in the afterlife of death,
and to her Maid entombed. The sacred bird so near scrys.
The Magpie sits within oasis staring into the pool. It scrys
for all this time, its vigil, its protection, never broken.
Even when the sarcophagus is carried to the necropolis of the dead,
without, unknown, the bird speaks wisely through reflection, her Magpie.
Entombed, his Queen and her Maid, their bodies but not their souls,
Queen, Maid and Magpie, each cast a last gaze, alive within the mirror.
The Vows of Innocence, the Maid bespeaks the mirror.
Pleas to the Swallower of Shades, both Queen and Maid have scried
to The Burning One, and claim no lie, upon their soul.
As the light dims within the Maids eyes, in tomb unbroken,
she sees the life of her Queen and their Magpie
pass fast upon the brass, last breath of life and dying.
Oh, too soon the end, moans the Maid, I am dying.
Her life's reflection moves bronzed upon the mirror.
She screams, "My Queen," but hears only the caw of Magpie.
All around her other servants succumb and cry, whilst she sits scrying,
and the Magpie flies above in life entombed, eternity, unbroken.
As she beseeches all the Gods to save her soul.
The Magpie's spirit self moves within the mirror's soul.
He swoops gathering Cleopatra's essence, past the dying,
and brings her to the Maids side unbroken.
In afterlife upon the Eastern Barge they join the mirrored
whole, for he, the bird of magic, Magpie, has called and scried
it so. Part light of life, part dark of death, the Magpie.
The essence of each entwine united within this eternal mirror
for the Magpie cannot bear their deaths. He will protect and forever scry
in life the mirror sits unbroken a stolen bauble, and in it they dwell with the Magpie.
Categories:
caws, adventure, allegory, bird, death,
Form:
Sestina
On Lindisfarne, they say,
St Cuthbert took a hooded crow,
A jackdaw and a jay,
And on their strident tongues bestowed
The gift of harmony.
No more did ugly croaks and caws
Dispute above the sea,
Or trouble those sequestered shores.
They sang all day, those three;
And as they drew their corvine kin,
The devil wept to see
His shrinking nursery of sin.
Categories:
caws, bird, christian, faith, sea,
Form:
Rhyme
He listened for them in the wood
as daylight blossomed, poised to prowl
For breakfast, breast meat sounded good
and Cat could feel his stomach growl
Soon, struck by a cacophany
of cheeps and chirps, of coos and caws,
Cat snuck up on them, tree by tree
and hushed each cluck with teeth and claws
They paid no mind, so were plucked clean
from every nook where they would sing
but had they looked, they might have seen
him right behind them and took wing!
When Cat had eaten every bird,
he retched a ball of beaks and feet,
spat out one final bone and purred,
outstretched atop the spongey peet...
Categories:
caws, bird, cat, humorous, tree,
Form:
Rhyme
Your adolescent love preserved ages
Mine a victim of uncertain choices
Whimsical tryst unlocked empty cages
Ignoring shrill caws of raven voices
Stars twinkling, moonlight casts glow on wrinkles
Wheelchair dance as nimble wheels spin tight arc
Twilight skies, clouds open, teardrop sprinkles
Sad raven circles overhead the dark
Age doesn't matter til dancing does cease
Twenty years difference only a number
Can love surpass ominous feathered beast?
Lay your weary head in peaceful slumber
Love, it seems, has subtle way of winning
Fingers entwined as the wheels quit spinning
Written 12/17/2017
Contest "Age Doesn't Matter When You're in Love"
Hosted by Julie Leigh Rodeheaver
Took a 3rd Place Win
Categories:
caws, age, bereavement, caregiving, cute
Form:
Sonnet
Life On The Inside
As the trees whisper words of wisdom,
The wolf lies below and howls,
To the Raven high in branches above,
Their spirits entwined beyond the visible
raven caws from the highest tree
bringing news of the territory
beneath laddered branches green
wolf listens patiently, ready
Across the meadows' silent in night
A lone white owl hunts her prey
The mouse scurries below in crystal snow
No escape for him from her deadly array
Arrow straight, towering tall
with soft evergreen leaves
shelter fur and lofty feather
time tested, giving life to all
See with divine light
Shine on brightly the way
Learn through divine knowledge
Be quiet not, have your say
10~July~2017
For Jan's collaboration contest
Categories:
caws, nature,
Form:
Rhyme
Birds
Fly
Migrating
On open sky
A chartered course found
Resting on lofty winter boughs
Swooping like magical kites, a swirling dance of flight
With miles still to go, fearless in their mission, cackling caws singing in
synchronized rhythm.
March 20, 2017
Categories:
caws, bird, imagery, journey, nature,
Form:
Fibonacci
still life
in the graveyard
ebon raven caws
09/19/20
Categories:
caws, death, word play,
Form:
Haiku